A Couple of Pictures

Hannah in the closet








Jeri reading with Hannah and the Reese girls








Sorry - we've had trouble getting pictures up on the blog. Be patient... everything is slower in PNG!

Frequently Asked Questions:

From your side:

How long will it take to build the house?

Answer: Currently we are waiting for the main power, water, and phone lines to be connected to the new area where we will be living. We are thinking about 8 weeks for this to happen. At that point our construction company is estimating it will take about 8 weeks to build.

What time is it there right now?

Answer: 7:51 p.m.

How is the truck?

Answer: Well it has been doing much better. I recently bought a tester so I can find out what part of the starting system is not working. Today was the 5^th time that the truck wouldn’t start, but the first time I was actually able to fix it by myself.

When do your things arrive?

Answer: Our ship was supposed to arrive on the 19^th, but the ship broke down (notice a theme?) and is delayed till June 28^th. At that point we still need to have it shipped to Alotau, which will probably take about two weeks.

From our side:

Jeri, have you ever seen a bug bite like this? What do you think that is? [In my life I have collected stamps and sports cards but no collection is as diverse and complete as our current bite collection on arms, back, and legs.]

At night: Craig, did you hear that? [Yes, I usually do, but the best answer is the calm, “no, what?”]

Craig, what time is it? [Jeri’s watch is currently not working because the battery went out.]

Do you think it will ever stop raining? [Rainy season is in full swing. For 7 days it has rained almost non-stop. For 5 days we used only water from the rain tank and it still was completely full.]

What did she (Hannah) just put in her mouth? [Hannah has been enjoying a steady diet of rocks, pebbles, and just plain old dirt.]

Do you want to changer her diaper or me? [Does anyone honestly want to answer that question?]

Jeri, do you want to get up at 4:30 a.m. and watch U.S.A vs. Italy in the World Cup? [Yes, we actually did. I was just sorry the U.S. couldn’t pull off a win.]

Are you telling me that huge thing is a cockroach? [Perhaps we should put a picture on the blog of these beasts.]

Is that a pig? [This morning Jeri mistook a cassowary (like an Emu) for a pig.]

Jeri, do you think you should get your eyes checked? [Craig after Jeri mistook a Cassowary for a pig.]

Craig, do you want to still be allowed to be the one who writes the blogs? [Jeri after she read my previous two statements]

From your side:

Are all of those things true?

Answer: Well, let’s just say things are fairly accurate, but have been inflated for additional pleasure to the reading eye.

Pictures!

Jeri and Hannah at the beach about 5 min from our house.








This is the land where we bought our property. By the way we are having the house built not building the house ourselves :).








Our new house will be in this subdivision - Raven Estates.









Hannah made new friends when the youth came for a movie.

The Weekend

Pictures: Us with Rochelle Reese (left); At the welcome meal (right)

Sound of Music:

Today we had about 30 young people over to watch a movie. Boy, did these kids love the movie. Any part that you wouldn’t imagine would have any humor they found humorous. It made it quite enjoyable to watch (and that says a lot for me). We did find that everyone was quite shocked by the kissing. Everyone turned away from the screen – including a married lady in her early 30’s. They would be shocked to watch popular North American Movies.

A Boarding Student?

Yesterday a 17 year old girl who ran away from home a week ago came to the house and asked us to take her in. We did go and talk with the family and the father said she could stay wherever she wanted. The family is having trouble paying school fees and this means the girl would not be able to continue her studies. We agreed to see if we could help. She stayed with us for a night and we talked to some of the local Christians. It was agreed the best thing for her would be to go back to her home. We dropped her off at a friend’s house hoping she would make the right decision and go home. These types of things are quite typical.

Hannah

Hannah is probably one of the better known residents of Alotau. When we go to the grocery store EVERYONE calls her by name. It is amazing. She has celebrity status. We think she quite enjoys all the attention she gets. There are numerous people at church who are self-proclaimed aunts and uncles. Hannah is being well cared for. She recently ended her fast. For a few weeks Hannah was being a really picky eater. We were worried that our rice cereal and Cheerios supply might run out and Hannah might just stop eating. However, she has recently developed quite an appetite and eats almost everything that we eat. She even does an excellent job feeding the ants that congregate under her chair at mealtimes.

Alotau ...

We feel like we are continuing to adjust well to everything here. If we need something we now know the right store to go to. We are even able to do a little comparison shopping to be sure we get the best deal. There are four main grocery stores. It seems each one carries certain items that we want. So we get milk in one store, pasta in another, canned foods in another, and so on. You never know what you will find at each store.

I (Craig) have yet to master cloth diapers. In fact, I don’t think I have ever put one on by myself successfully. However, I have baptized several dirty diapers in the toilet. Jeri is thankful that at least I am smart enough to do that. We can get disposable diapers, but usually only use them at night and when we are away from the house for an extended period.

Our container is scheduled to arrive in Port Moresby in the next couple of weeks. We are anxious to get our things. I don’t really know why because we just need to find a place at the Williams house to store it. I guess we expatriates just feel better having our stuff nearby.

We officially own a piece of land in Alotau. We are the proud owners of .0708 hectares of property in Golanai Section 8 Allotment 9. Check out our blog in a few days and we hope to have pictures of the area. If anyone knows how many acres .0708 hectares is please post a comment. I’m too lazy to do the internet search myself.

For those of you who like to keep stats we are now at 8 days without a phone. 3 times stranded in town with a broken down truck. 22 days blessed to be here. 2 is the number of times we usually shower a day.

Be sure to check out our May Newsletter at http://www.championschurch.org/missions/ford_newsletter/May2006.htm. If you are not on our mailing list shoot us an email @ pngfords@gmail.com.

Catching Up

You notice that some of these pictures are not exactly ‘recent’. However, it has taken some time to get caught up. The picture of Craig and Hannah was taken at the Port Moresby airport when we arrived in the country. Anyone want to guess where the other picture was taken? You guessed it – Craig’s graduation in Memphis.

This last week can be summarized by one word – BROKEN. Jeri took her second trip without me to town after her encounter with a mentally deranged man (check a previous blog for details). This time the truck broke down at the market. She, Hannah, and a local lady walked back to the house. Once they arrived I decided – being the mechanic that I am – that I would walk to market and start the truck. After about an hour I showed up at the house again with no truck. We were able to push start the truck that evening and by the next day got it fixed. Our phone line has also been out since Tuesday (now Saturday). The telephone offices were closed until Friday because one of the employees died. Fortunately, Leslie and Loopie have two lines and the second is working.

However, we do have some good news. Yesterday the title for our house was completed. Once we pay the folks we will officially be land owners for the first time. In a future blog we hope to put up a picture of our land and the area around.

We hope all of you are doing well and God continues to bless you and your family.

Hannah - 11 months old

When Hannah gets really excited, she clenches her fists and grins like this!

She also likes to take books off the bookshelf.







Happy 11 month birthday, Hannah!!